Let the Real United Story Begin

Now that the long saga is over, let the real United story begin.

With a brief statement on its web site, United revealed what most fans had long feared. Cristiano Ronaldo is "free" to speak to Real Madrid about a £80 million transfer, with the expectation that the player will sign a long-term lucrative contract with the Spanish giants before the month's end.

In reaction, the Guardian's Rob Smyth, a hack with a deeply uneven record when called to pronounce on United's affairs, at last found arguments and tone that would not start a bar room fight.

"Fans will shed few tears over Ronaldo's sale but that does not mean they will not be acutely aware of the damaging implications for United," was the straight-to-the-point introduction to his Guardian article.

"Goals are the defining currency of the sport," he continued. "It's hard to work out a precise exchange rate these days but 91 goals in three seasons seems a fair trade, even at £80m."

The 'every footballer has his price' logic is irrefutable but for the Guardian's Paul Hayward, next season's Spanish exhibition of Ronaldo, Kaka and Messi, swings decisively the balance of footballing power to Iberia.

"To be clear, Spain are European champions and house the best club side in the world," he stated. "Their two great footballing metropolises are home to the world's three best players: Ronaldo, Kaká and Messi, as well as one of the best central midfield pairings the game has seen, in Xavi and Iniesta.

"La Liga is also the residence for Argentina's other lustrous young talent, Sergio Agüero, not to mention David Villa. On loan, in a sense, to the Premier League are Torres, Fábregas, Xabi Alonso and Pepe Reina: all probable members of a Spain squad who ought to be favourites for next summer's World Cup in South Africa."

The Times was similarly mordant in tone and even claimed that Ronaldo's transfer could herald an exodus which could include Vidic, Berbatov and Nani. The newspaper also spoke of the "thankless task" that awaits the manager.

What should have been mere summer tweaking has now become important team surgery triggered by the loss of a player described by Patrick Barclay as the "most effective footballer Old Trafford has seen since Matt Busby rebuilt the club after the Second World War." Barclay added:

"Eric Cantona may have been the catalyst supreme, the substance through which Ferguson's United acquired a winning chemistry, but no one—not George Best, Denis Law, Bobby Charlton or even Duncan Edwards of the Busby Babes—has dominated a season as Ronaldo did in 2007-08."

Blubbing United fans would find no consolation from the rest of Barclay's prose. "Ronaldo carried United from the Beckham era. No doubt cries of “good riddance” will be heard, but if Ferguson had heeded calls to banish Ronaldo after his wink at the dismissal of Rooney in the 2006 World Cup, Old Trafford would have been a poorer place. Now it is richer. In a sense."

Elsewhere in the fourth estate, the collective shrugging of shoulders at the proposed Ronaldo deal, was astonishing to behold. Granted, Ronaldo's impending departure is a story with a longer trail than a Pennine hike but the manner in which the press seems ready to cast the winger as a latter day Kanchelskis is either a tribute to United's spin masters or the media calm before the storm.

The urbane and normally sensible Chelsea coach Ray Wilkins, a former United midfielder, told Sun readers that in his opinion, "the loss of Cristiano will be a slight loss but nothing too drastic."

Wilkins' nose must have touched the sky before he completed the soundbite. Wilkins did put his comment in context by referring to United's "fantastic squad" and how the manager was "astute" in the transfer market but any interest his thoughts attracted were drowned out by the sound of loud chuckling in Liverpool and to the north and west of London.

Over at the Sun, readers were entertained by a hatchet job authored by Neil Custis. Under the headline 'Once A Winker, Always A Winker' (geddit!), the hack offered a resumé of all Ronaldo's legendary misdemeanours.

The shameless cheating which provoked Rooney's dismissal at the World Cup 2006.

Yep, it was there!

The hurt caused to infant fans who bought a shirt with Ronaldo's name on it, only to discover he is leaving.

Check. Nice touch, Custis!

Letting down the manager who made him what he is.

It was there too! Being a prima donna.

Room was made for that one, of course.

And on and on Custis droned.

Meanwhile, there was nothing but cold comfort for the world's best player in the pages of the News of the World.

"For every example of his artistry, there was an example of his con-artistry," declared 'Britain's number one sport's columnist' Andy Dunn. "And the diving, the feigning, the petulance, the rampant egoism are not his worst crimes. He misled the fans and, it seems, misled the greatest club manager of all time."

Fellow hacks picked up Dunn's intellectual baton with the speed of a thirsty alcoholic at Happy Hour.

"Ronaldo had grown apart from his team-mates, Ferguson had sensed it—and that is why the Old Trafford manager was happy to take Real Madrid's £80million," another of the newspaper's hacks trumpeted.

"On the training ground, they were tiring of his tantrums. On the pitch, they were fed up of his selfishness."

Presumably these same players were not fed up with Ronaldo's goals and the fat bonuses they delivered but let this truth not delay a good yarn.

"It culminated in fury from senior players after Ronaldo tried to single-handedly beat Barcelona in the Champions League final last month."

It would be churlish to add that fans should be grateful that at least one United player tried to beat Barcelona.

The newspaper tried to stand up the story buy quoting an unnamed "insider." The deep throat moaned about Ronaldo at length and contrasted him unfavourably with the loyal Red workhorse Wayne Rooney.

The United insider explained: "Ferguson has always said that if he had to lose either Ronaldo or Rooney, it would be Ronaldo every time. Rooney is the future of United and everyone there knows they can count on his loyalty and his team ethic."

The Guardian concurred. "To say great teams are never improved by the auctioning off of their best player is a truism," a hack wrote before attempting to undermine his main argument.

"But even if the gains are insufficient to outweigh the loss, they are still substantial. In a sense, United have lost two players: Rocket Ronny the winger and Ronaldo the central striker and dead-ball artiste. The free-kick gap is hard to fill.

"But a replacement centre-forward is already in the building and yanking at his chain. Wayne Rooney, who has now scored as many times for England as Sir Geoff Hurst and is nearly halfway to Sir Bobby Charlton's record (49), came clean in Kazakhstan and declared he is a much better player through the middle than he is out on the left wing."

Gordon Taylor, the Professional Footballers’ Association chief executive, was another to offer comfort by playing the Rooney card “As an Englishman, if I was asked to make a choice I would have Wayne,” he said.

“Although Ronaldo has become more of a team player, there was a significant individual element to the way he played. Wayne has not been far away from being one of the best players in the world for a long time.”

But is that short distance the difference between winners and also-rans? Can United count on Rooney's physical condition as much as his commitment to the cause? Rooney is an enormous talent but he will need to hold his fitness and recapture the form of 2005 to fill the chasm left by Ronaldo and spur United to more glory.

After the ritual Ronaldo bashing and the hymns of praise to English hero Rooney, hacks moved the story on to the international hit parade of talents who could be joining the Old Trafford payroll.

A £17 million deal for Wigan's Valencia is done, a move once described by the Guardian's Daniel Taylor as akin to swapping an artist for a house-painter.

United are also looking to bring in other players, if the Times is to be believed. "Sir Alex Ferguson is eager to find a replacement for the Portugal forward as soon as possible and has made a firm inquiry about Eto’o," the newspaper confirmed. "Eto’o is one of Manchester City’s leading summer transfer targets, but United look like beating their rivals to the Cameroon player’s signature."

We will see!

Bayern Munich's Franck Ribéry, Lyon's Benzema and quite ludicrously Madrid's Arjen Robben, are three other names to be linked with United. It is to be hoped that Ashley Young will soon appear in the shortlist, too.

What is sure is that the manager will have a free hand to use the Ronaldo transfer largesse as he sees fit. Who says so? Why, the Glazer family, that's who!

"The sale of Ronaldo was Ferguson’s decision and not a result of the club’s enormous debt," a family spokesman told the Times.

“The idea that Manchester United are motivated by a debt burden is just not true,” the spokesman added. “Cristiano Ronaldo decided, after six years, it was time to move on and the manager said, ‘OK.’ Sir Alex Ferguson is in total control of his squad. He is empowered to make whatever decisions he thinks are in the best interests of Manchester United.

“Only the paranoia of some supporters would lead you to believe the owners are not going to continue investing in the team. A substantial number of world-class players have been brought to the club in the past few years and that will still be the case.”

The Ronaldo transfer fanfare may dominate the headlines but surely what must now be concentrating Red minds is the manner in which United will respond to what is a tremendous setback. Most pundits agree that the manager has had a year to figure out the post-Ronaldo future. Did he reveal his plans to the fast fading winger Nani?

Yes, if the winger's cheery disposition is to be believed. Nani was earnest when telling the Portuguese media that Ronaldo's sale was good news for him as United would have to use him more often.

Nani would have been distraught to read in the Guardian that United held talks with Sporting Lisbon over the Pörtuguese willingness to trade their skilled midfielder Moutino and a suitcase of cash for Nani's return to the Fatherland.

If the tale is true, Ferguson would at a stroke demonstrate that the end of the Ronaldo saga has not distracted him from attending to his team's most pressing concern, its engine room.

United's midfield was badly exposed by Barcelona in the Champions League final and the image of Giggs, Carrick and Anderson's collective failure to exert any influence whatsoever on the proceedings is likely to have been seared into the manager's memory.

Fletcher's red card in the tournament's semi-final may thus come to be seen as the greatest stroke of luck since the cancellation of Titanic cruise plans, allowing the Scottish midfielder to escape the withering censure applied so vigourously to team mates.

Ferguson is likely to conclude that Giggs and Scholes should appear only rarely next year. Anderson will be indulged again but United's coaching staff must coax greater consistency from the young Brazilian before he is given a regular first team berth. Hargreaves double knee surgery leaves his United future in the lap of the gods.

Carrick lacks the energy to be a true defensive screen, while Park is an unexceptional squad man and little else.

That leaves the manager with scope for improvement. Could it be that Sir Alex might see the post-Ronaldo future not as a desperate search for a like-for-like replacement but rather the pace-fuelled re-establishment of the team ethos which has served United so well?